


Day 3: Stockings Hung With Care

by BluePlanetTrash



Series: Merry Langstmas (12 Days of Christmas) [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Firefighters, Angst, Gen, Merry Langstmas, Tragedy, house fire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-16
Updated: 2018-01-16
Packaged: 2019-03-05 19:01:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13394223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BluePlanetTrash/pseuds/BluePlanetTrash
Summary: Lance was looking forward to a happy Christmas surrounded by his family. He had the rest of the holiday off and he found the perfect presents for his parents and siblings. They would never get their Christmas though, when a fire breaks out in their home.





	Day 3: Stockings Hung With Care

“Alright guys, it’s time to get to bed,” Rosa said starting to usher the children off to their bedrooms. Cortez followed behind her with a yawn. She gave each of them a hug and a kiss.

“I’ll put them to bed mamá,” Lance offered coming up behind her. She turned with a smile.

“Thank you, Lance,” she said squeezing his face in her hands. He laughed and hugged her before turning and giving his papá a hug as well.

“Goodnight,” he said. “Everybody better be in bed!” He cried running down the hallway before laughter started spilling out of the open doorways.

“You can’t tell me what to do!” Mark yelled in retaliation as Lance tried to push his older brother to his bed. He laughed and grabbed Lance before tossing him on the bed with a laugh.

“Time for bed!” Rosa reminded them sternly, hands on her hips even though none of them could see her. There was a beat of silence.

“Yes mamá,” they all chorused.

She nodded her head and looked over at her husband. They sat down on the couch in front of the TV waiting for the kids to fall asleep. About a half hour later they peeked in the rooms to check in case one of them decided to stay up to see Santa. Rosia quietly closed the door and gave a thumbs up to Cortez to start laying out their presents and filling their stockings. With a smile he did.

They laughed quietly as they put presents under the tree and hung the stockings back on the fireplace. They stepped back to admire their handy work and nodded in approval before heading off to their room.

* * *

Lance had always been a light sleeper, despite coming from a family of dead to the world sleepers. He always had strange dreams and would wake up immediately when things didn’t start going right. He had a lot of sleepless nights, but it was better than having nightmares. So when he started dreaming of fire and smelling smoke, he immediately jolted awake. He expected to wake up and instantly feel better and maybe even be able to fall back asleep quickly. He didn’t expect to actually see black smoke drifting in from his bedroom door. His eyes widened and he hopped up, holding his shirt over his nose and mouth, cautiously tapping the door handle to see if it was hot. It wasn’t and he prayed to God, someone just burned something.

No such luck. From down the hall, he could see flames covering the living room and was spreading towards the hallway. He burst into his parent’s room with a scream and ran to his papá shaking him until he woke up with a grunt.

“Lance?” He asked groggily. Lance didn’t wait any longer before tugging him out of bed followed by his mamá.

“The house is on fire,” he said voice shaky. Their eyes widened as they woke up enough to notice the black smoke. They ran around Lance, confident he would follow them, and ran into the other bedrooms. Rosa to Mark’s, Cortez to Caleb and Sophie’s, and Lance to Marie’s. They ran towards the kitchen hoping the flames hadn’t reached it yet, but they had already reached the hallway and were forced to turn around. They ran back to Rosa and Cortez’s room and slid up the window, before starting to crawl through it. Never had they been so glad that they lived in one story house.

They ran away from the fire, clad only in their pyjamas and socks or slippers. They coughed and gagged, eyes stinging from the smoke and soot. Mark shakily pulled his cellphone from the pocket of his sweatpants and called 911.

“911. What’s your emergency?” the operator’s voice asked.

“My house is burning down.” Mark said voice trembling. He couldn’t believe what he was saying.

“Okay sir, is everyone alright?” they asked next.

“Yes, we’re all out of the house,” he told her running his hand down his face.

“What is the address?”

“534 Wentworth Rd,”

“Okay, we are sending help, they are on their way now.”

“Thank you,” he breathed out in relief.

“How many people were living in the house?” they asked after.

“There’s seven of us,”

They lived pretty far from the town, about a twenty-minute drive and surrounded on all sides by trees. Thankfully they would be far enough away from the house that they would catch as well.

They watched in numb horror as their house and everything they owned burned in front of them. Not even the cold snow covered ground could distract them from watching the blaze. Rosa was the first to break down, holding her head in her hands as tears ran between her fingers. Cortez wrapped her in a hug, and rested his chin on the top of hers, tears rolling down his cheeks.

Caleb and Sophie were next. They clung to each other, sobs bursting from their mouths at the sight. They weren’t young enough to not realize that they had just lost everything they had.

Then it was Marie and Mark. They stared into the flames, burning tears making tracks through the black soot on their cheeks. It was obvious that they were trying to stay strong, whether it be for themselves, Caleb and Sophie, or even their parents. It was too much though, it was painful.

Last was Lance. He tried to keep it together, he really did. He was raised on the idea that material things didn’t matter much, but this was more than just a shelter. He and all of his siblings were raised here. It was filled with good and bad memories, fights, celebrations, losses, and so much more. It wasn’t just a house to them. It was home.

He choked and stumbled over to Marie and Mark, who both wrapped their arms around him, trying to protect their baby brother. They unraveled and staggered over to their parents who were now holding Caleb and Sophie in their arms. They opened their free arms and their children huddled as much as they could in them, bawls echoing through the air around them.

They heard sirens in the distance but didn’t move from their spot until they saw them driving between the trees to stop in front of the house. An ambulance pulled up behind them and EMTs immediately headed towards them, bags in hand. They met them halfway and crowded around the back doors as each of them were checked out. Their first break of the day happened as none of them had any sort of injury. Throughout the entire process, they couldn’t stop crying and hugging each other. During that time, the police arrived and took their statements while the EMTs wrapped blankets around their shoulders.

They offered to take them away from the house but they refused. Even though they told them, that it could take hours for them to put the fire out, they remained steadfast. Even if it hurt, they were going to stay with their home until the very end. They used Mark’s cell phone to call the rest of their family to tell them what happened, more tears were shed at their news. Of course, they insisted that they stay with them until they get back on their feet. They cried in relief, thanking their Aunt. They could hear her weeping on the other end of the line.

“Shut up, don’t thank me. We are family, we look out for each other always,”

“Sorry,” Rosa said with a sniff.

“No apologies,” she said sternly. “Call me when you’re done talking with everyone and we’ll come and pick you up,”

“But your Christmas morning,” Rose started to argue before being cut off by her sister.

“That’s not important right now, you will always be more important to me,” she said quietly. Rosa shallowed and nodded shallowly tears once again rolling down her cheeks. She quickly wiped it away.

“Okay, I’ll call you after we’re done,” she said, her voice growing stronger.

“Te amo,”

“Te amo,” she croaked ending the call and handing it back to Mark who shoved it in his pocket. They watched the team fight the flames as the sun rose over the horizon bringing them into Christmas Day. A little while after the sun rose into the sky, the smoke fading to white. They looked hopelessly at the smouldering black ruins of their home. Pain filled their entire chests, everything they had built, everything they had experienced, was gone within a few hours. They huddled together again, tears squeezing out of their eyes as they tried to be strong for each other.

They looked over when they heard boots stomping towards them and saw one of the firefighters walking to their group.

“I’m so sorry about your house,” he said solemnly after unclipping his face mask.

“Shiro?” A voice asked quietly before Lance stepped out from in between them.

“Oh God, Lance,” Shiro said just as quietly before Lance ran forward with a sob and wrapped his arms around his chest. Shiro quickly wrapped his arms around Lance, his heart squeezing in pain for him.

Lance worked part-time at the coffee shop and café beside the fire station. He and his team would always take their lunch breaks in the shop and they became good friends with the young man. To see that it was his house and his family that were affected by the fire, hurt him like not many other things could.

“Shiro, did you talk t- Lance?” Keith asked startled as he came around the truck. At the sight of his other friend, Lance wailed even louder. Keith quickly walked over in concern and was wrapped up in another hug. Hunk and Pidge followed shortly after the loud cry and recognized the friendly face at the café, that was covered in tears, snot, and soot. He cried in the circle of firefighters before he pushed himself back to his family.

“What do we need to do?” Rosa asked Shiro.

“We need to do a fire report,” he informed her. “If you want, we could take you back to the fire station, we can get you into some new clothes and shoes and you can get washed up,” he offered. She turned to look at her family, they looked lost even on their own property. She sighed and nodded her head in agreement.

Shiro smiled back encouragingly and lead them back to the firetruck. Hunk and Keith hopped on the back of the truck, not at all perturbed by the fact that it would be a long ride back. Shiro opened the door for them and helped get Caleb and Sophie up into the back. They shared a seat and quickly buckled up. The rest of the family squeezing in behind them.

“Sorry for the tight fit,” Shiro said looking at them over his shoulder.

“It’s alright,” Cortez said quickly. Shiro nodded silently and they started on their way to town. It was completely silent the entire way back.

* * *

Lance stared out of the window. His hair was still wet from his shower and he was clothed in and Altea Fire Department hoodie and pair of sweatpants. His two youngest siblings were sleeping on cots provided by the station, his older siblings were trying to find more work from their current bosses and his parents were busy calling the insurance companies.

He looked up when he felt a hand on his shoulder and saw Shiro peering down at him. Keith, Hunk, and Pidge sat down on the other chairs around him.

“Coran and Allura are out investigating the cause of the fire right now,” Shiro informed him. He nodded his head and looked back out the window.

“We’re so sorry Lance,” Hunk said breaking the silence. Lance sighed and looked over at them.

“We loved that house,” he started. “No matter where we were, we always knew that we would be able to go back home there. So many things have happened in there, good and bad but it was always there,”

“Lance,” Keith tried. Lance shook his head.

“Things could have been much worse today, I could have lost a sister, or a brother, or my parents. I could have lost my entire family. I could have died in there myself. We’re lucky that none of us are seriously injured or dead; and when I think about that, I don’t care about the house or the things that were inside of it,”

Their eyes widened at the statement, pride for their friend swelling in their chests.

“We are so much stronger than this,” his voice cracked in the middle of the sentence. The pride he felt for his family overwhelming him. Sure they cried in sorrow at the beginning but mamá and papá were already working hard trying to put their lives back together, only a few hours after it was torn apart. Marie and Mark were trying to cram more into their already hectic schedules, even though they had no idea what was going to happen next; and Caleb and Sophie were so strong. They didn’t know anything but that house, it wasn’t fair to them but they haven’t even complained once. He curled into himself, resting his head on his knees.

“We’ll get through this, we always do,”

“I believe you Lance,” Shiro said rubbing his hand up and down Lance’s back in comfort. He trembled where he sat, he didn’t want to cry again. He was so sick of crying. He couldn’t help it though. He sat there in the comfort of his friends. Hoping for some sort of miracle. He didn’t care when it happened but he just wanted everything to be okay.

* * *

Lance’s aunt came to pick up the family, graciously thanking the team for their work before leaving with the family in tow. Coran and Allura ruled the fire an accident, most likely caused by a stray spark popping out of the not quite extinguished fireplace and caught one of the stockings on fire. Since they were filled with presents at the time, it had plenty of fuel to spread.

Their first miracle happened when donations started raking in. The McClains were a well known and well-liked family in the community. Other families were generous with what they gave; food, clothes, money, building materials. Rosa and Cortez cried every time someone would come up to them with a donation for them.

With the donation money, insurance claims, and Marie, Mark, and Lance working excessively they were able to afford a new house much quicker than they could ever imagine.

By next Christmas morning, they were happily huddled around the Christmas tree. They didn’t worry about what would happen next anymore. They didn’t have to fight anymore. They had been through their battle and they had won.

**Author's Note:**

> Come visit me at my Tumblr too!: https://blueplanettrash.tumblr.com/


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